Headlam-Morley, Else, Lady, 1866-1950

Elisabeth Charlotta Henrietta Ernestina Headlam-Morley (ne Sonntag) was born at Luneburg in 1866. Known as Else, she was the youngest daughter of Dr. August Sonntag. She learnt the violin from a former pupil of Friedrich Wieck and the piano from her eldest sister Hedwig (Heidi), who was also a pupil of Wieck, and at the age of seven she wrote her first composition. After her family's move to Dresden, she played at the musical evenings given by Marie Wieck and Clara Schumann.

When she was thirteen she was accepted as a pupil by Liszt, and studied with him at Weimar for five years, until his death in 1886, and afterwards with Franz Xaver Scharwenka in Berlin. Among Liszt's older pupils whom she knew at Weimar were Alfred Reisenauer, Alexander Siloti, Emil Sauer and Arthur Friedheim. She travelled with Liszt to Budapest and appeared as a pianist there and in Vienna under Julius Epstein. She also studied harmony etc. with Heinrich Schulz-Beuthen. In 1892 she married James Wycliffe Headlam-Morley, who was knighted in 1929 for his work as historical adviser to the Foreign Office.

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